The pace of change in the e-procurement market is moving faster than a speeding cXML document flying across the internet. Software vendors are innovating more quickly than ever before; solutions are no longer are just “software” but come preloaded with a dizzying array of additional items that are difficult to compare on an apples-to-apples basis; and customers are coming in smarter both in “new” and “replacement” deals, with greater expectations from provider solutions than ever before, especially the rate at which they’ll begin to realize benefits.

Today we publish the second installment of our 2108 procurement technology trend and forecast series, focusing on solution provider trends and priorities within e-procurement market. Part 2 of this series provides an analysis and exploration of two provider trend areas: continued M&A consolidation expectations in the e-procurement market (fasten your seat belt on this one) and rising procure-to-pay (P2P) and business-to-business (B2B) intersections, including a quantitative look at the rise, definition and size of B2B e-commerce today. Following today’s analysis, the final installment in this series will feature three additional trends and conclude with our 2018 e-procurement market forecast.

So without further adieu, let’s introduce some controversy, data, practitioner recommendations and (hopefully) insight on the first and arguably the most important near-term provider trends Spend Matters is already seeing evidence of early in 2018.